The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1887-04-27

from IOul0n; or h0W-proDaBly owing
to the completely of others-he became
possessed of his weapons. But he told
graphically of the ten days of hardship
apd hunger which he had endured while
skulking among the rocky hills by night,
and lying hidden among thorny brakes
by day, until at last he broke into p@an
of triumph in relating how he had en-
countered and robbed the true M. de Vii
leneuve on his way to the village fete.
'Twenty shining maps in his purse,
the idiotp he said exultingly, "and
1900 francs besides in notes, Well,
we'll / left him gagged and bound to a
tree, after | had taken the freedom to
change clothes with him; and there he
stands, no doubt, trembling, but fortunate
to keep whole skin. And l found in
his pocket the letter of M. Killick, prom
ising to take him as passenger in the
balloon here, and So"
And so the idea had presented itself to
this daring and ready-witted ruffian to
personate the victim of his recent rob-
berry, and thus to procure the means of
fight in what was certainly an unexam-
pied fashion, while / was the luckless
scapegoat of his audacious enterprise.
Meanwhile the wind, as l have said,
downward, and saw by the simmer of
the moonlight on the tremendous waves
that the sea was below us. l could not
forbear from an exclamation of dismay.
The desperate at my side also looked
down.
"Bahl sea or land-what matters 1t ?"
he said recklessly. Throw out bal
last; do you hear me? p and unwillingly
| complied.
The balloon instantly rose, and it pres
emily became perceptibly colder, so that
| shivered, and had to chafe my hands
together to prevent them from stiffen-
ing. My companions iron frame showed
no signs of suffering from the abrupt
lowering of the temperature; but after a
time the Defiance seemed to be nearer to
the sea, for | heard the low roar of the
waves; and then Risque-son-cou impa-
tiently flung out another bag of ballast,
and we rose. Vague, like the visions
of dream, are my recollections of the
voyage of that miserable night, spent
thus, and in such company. | suffered
much from cold and fatigue, and it
was mechanically that ! obeyed
the directions of the escaped galley slave,
who had now assumed the command.
There was no doubt about the fixity of
his determination to continue the des-
perate fight until we should be across
the French frontier. How long our
aerial journey might prove, undertaken
as ii was without warm clothing, provi-
sions or brandy, could not conjecture,
while il was certain that we were hurry
ing along at a swift pace-how swift /
had no means of neutrality-suspicious. the
pressure of the strong wind.
So far as i could tell, the direction of
the wind was . uniform one, steadily
from north-east-by-east. The sea which
| had seen beneath us was. no doubt q
part of the guilt, lying somewhere between
the mouths of the river Rhone and the
Spanish border, but the remainder of our
route was in theory, mere guesswork-
A slight shift in the wind might cause us
to be carried cut into the broad Mediter-
ranean-eyen, did we but drift beyond
the straits, into the broader Atlantic, to
perish as many a balloon yoyager has
died, without a record of his fate.
Whereabouts we were / could not tell.
The dark. blurred outlines of what lay
beneath seemed to indicate hills and
woods, not sea.
IF we come down in France, my young
friend said the strideDt voice Of the
escaped convict, as we hoated through
masses of misty vapor, the condensed
moisture of which wetted me to the
skin, you may bid adieu to whatever
home ties and British affections
your insular heart may cherish. It's on
fault of yours, you will say, if the wind
carries this Tapping gas-bag to Potion or
the NiyeTnais. No, but is Risque-son
cou to wait while the young Englishman
crawls to the nearest brigade of gendar-
merle TO give notice that his fellow-trav-
en- rupture de ban? Thank yo idi.' s fffel
fer to keep my own counsel. So sure as
we drop where Napoleon is Emperor,
and the Oficsol Journal posted on the
walls OF the Poste de Police, / prove that
one can keep secret better than two"
am not, hope, unduly timorous, but
| own that my heart sank within me as
heard these words, uttered with an en-
phatic ferocity which left no doubt of
the speakers stern resolve. had fully
made up my mind, should the desperate
at my side begin to realize his threats,
that | would not be by any means pas
sive in tho struggle; but his weapons
and his strength left little hope of sat
isfactory ending to such "a contest.
"There's something wrong with the
valves" said my companion roughly,
an hour later; the gas, diable is com
ing down, and we are sinking. It's
fol you, aeronaut, to ascend the netting
and stop the escape of gas"
was very reluctant to obey. To
climb the netting of a balloon, when at
great height above the earth, is never
very pleasant task but to do so, leaving
behind me % rutfian who might at any
moment pistol or stab me as descended,
thus relieving himself from an incon-
venient witness, was indeed irksome.
However, Risque-son-cou evinced such
vehement pertinacity, and swore so many
grisly oaths, that at last / complied;
and, having adjusted the valve, crept back
to the car, sick and giddy, but unhurt.
The moon had faded away. There
were pale crimson streaks in what took
to be the Eastern sky, and below Law
piled-ur gloomy masses of black cloud,
through which cleaned al intervals
something white and lustrous, like the
marble pinnacles of the cathedral at
Milan.
"We're steering straight. Fatality, for
once, befriends me-" exclaimed the des.
perate sharer of my journey, 'for mile
bombes those are the peaks of the
Eastern Pyrenees Chuck out ballast,
boy Don't let us ground on them"
We were, in reality, floating amongst
the serrated SUBMITS and snow-clad
mountain-tops of the huge chain of
mountains that forms natural barrier
between Gaul and Spain. Below, the
sullen cloud banks menaced elemental
war, and already low -murmuring growls
of thunder reverberated among the ser
rated ridges beneath ia
Throw over more ballast" commanded
my rufflanly companion.
flung out, with some misgivings, the
remainder of the last bag OF sand and
small pebbles, but the Defiance did not
rise with its former buoyancy. Much
gas had been lost. The once smooth sur
face of the silk painted in gaudy stripes
of pink and blue, was wrinkled now,
and fluttered loosely in irregular fes-
toons. More than once 1t seemed as
though we must be dashed against some
one OF the towering peaks above which
the balloon slowly revolved.
Crash after crash, peal upon peal, rang
out the deep diapason of the thunder,
echoed from glen to glen. and from ridge